Tag: temple

Yogyakarta, a host to temples which beginnings are even earlier than the construction of Khmer Empire’s Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom, is a testament to Indonesia’s rich and extensive history. Aside from the temples, travelers could experience the best of Indonesia’s cuisine, night life, and hospitality in Yogyakarta. It is pronounced and commonly spelled as Jogjakarta. Locals simply call it Jogja /JOGH-jah/. Yogyakarta does not limit to being a center of tourism. Indonesia considers the region as the leading proponent of the preservation of classical Javanese fine arts and cultural heritage and symbols. The highest tier of Candi Borobudur is adorned ... Read more

Whenever I travel, excitement always wakes me earlier than usual, no matter how tired I was the night before. My visit to Candi Prambanan is schedule at 6AM but I was wide awake at 4 o’clock. I had finished all the preparations and I couldn’t go back to sleep so I had to kill the time watching unfamiliar television shows. At 5:30, I left the hotel and walked towards the closest TransJogja Station which I pre-determined during my research. It was 10 minutes walk. I asked the station master for directions and he was accommodating enough to inform on what ... Read more

Honk! Honk! Honk! Those were the last sounds I heard in my dreams, which turned out to be a reality. The train that I hopped on the previous night in Jakarta was approaching its other end, the Tugu Station in Yogyakarta (or Jogjakarta or Jogja). I did not get that much  sleep I wanted, I was awake most of time because of excitement and of making acquaintance (I was sitting beside a local on that long train ride). I knew that in few hours, I will be seeing Candi Borobudur. The train arrived at 5:40AM and it was still too ... Read more

From Thommanon, our guide drove us to Ta Prohm, our final stop in our Angkor Tour. When Aaron heard that it was the featured location of Angelina Jolie’s  2001 film, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, he surprisingly got excited. Maybe he was already well rested when he refused to climb the Phimeanakas, and he’s also a great fan of places shown in the popular culture. A walkway to Prasat Ta Prohm When we arrived in Ta Prohm, we noticed that the place is heavily vegetated with huge trees. We entered the compound via the west gopura, a designated gate for tourist entrance. We did ... Read more

After getting dumbfounded in Angkor Wat, we headed to Angkor Thom and explored every temples within the complex. We stumbled in Bayon, ascened to the top of Baphuon, climbed the highest point of Phimeanakas, wondered around the Royal Palace, lingered the stretch of the Elephants Terrace, and roamed in the the channels of Leper King Terrace. It was an awesome temple run in Siem Reap. But hey, we weren’t done yet. Though Aaron already met his limit, we still headed to some amazing temples outside Angkor Thom. We left Angkor Thom through the Victory Gate and stopped in Thommanon. Thommanon was built ... Read more

The Phimeanakas (or Prasat Phimean Akas) is a Khmer pyramid-like structure, which name translates to celestial temple. It was built in the later part of 10th century and was situated at the heart of Angkor Thom‘s Royal Palace. The royal palace seats in the north of the Baphuon temple. Since the Royal Palace is pretty close to Baphuon, we visited it next. We followed a trail in a highly vegetated area at the back of Baphuon and entered the south gopura of the palace. We spent some moments reading the information placards of trees we met along the way, which ... Read more

Immediately after exiting Bayon temple, we moved to the Baphuon temple. It is only few hundreds of meters (350+) away from Bayon, including the 150-meter walkway from the main road. The surrounding of the temple is a swamp, which gets deeper on wet season. That was probably why its builders created an elevated pathway. The walkway to Baphuon Temple Pyramid-like Temple Baphuon temple is also located within the Angkor Thom complex like the Bayon. It is a three-tiered pyramidal or mountain-like temple that was built in the mid-11th century. This 150-meter by 100-meter monument has a height of roughly 50 meters, including ... Read more

After witnessing the breathtaking view of Angkor Wat’s sunrise and wondering around its bewildering structure, our guide lead us to Angkor Thom. We entered the Angkor Thom complex via the south gopura (or an arched gate), and what welcomed us were stone figures seemingly pulling a log (a scene in a classical movie wherein the soldiers had to pull the big ropes to lift the bridge that leads to the castle). Sadly, most of these statues had been decapitated. Reasons? – Barang, our guide, did not tell us. Roderick, Aaron, and myself in our hired Tuktuk. Photo is taken at ... Read more

Ayutthaya Kingdom [1351 to 1767 AD] was once considered as Southeast Asia’s most formidable. But not until 1767 when it fell to Burma’s fury. At the present, all that remained were ruins and the reinforced chedis. These ruins were under the protectorate of Ayutthaya Historical Park and were listed to the UNESCO World Heritage Site. We visited the Wat Phra Si Sanphet and the Grand Palace ruins after our tour inside the nearby Wihan Phra Mongkhon Bophit, making it the second stop of our “temple run” in Ayutthaya – part of the day 2 of our Indochina Tour. The three main chedis of ... Read more